Noncognitive constructs such as self-efficacy, social awareness, and academic engagement are widely acknowledged as critical components of human capital, but systematic data collection on such skills in school systems is complicated by conceptual ambiguities, measurement challenges and resource constraints. This study addresses this issue by…

School engagement has been identified as an important construct associated with student achievement, school completion, and more recently, student well-being. The present study included data from 200 ninth grade students of diverse ethnic groups (African American, Hispanic, & White) to explore dimensions of student wellness and their…

Previous work has looked at the relationship between high school preparation and student performance in calculus-based introductory mechanics (physics 1) courses. Here, we extend that work to look at performance in introductory calculus-based electricity and magnetism (physics 2), and we look at the significance of what college math courses have…

Accessible instructional materials are materials which can be used by students with disabilities as easily, effectively, and thoroughly as students without disabilities. Unfortunately, policy evidence suggests the California Community Colleges are not ensuring instructional materials are accessible. Surprisingly, while accessibility is often…

Teacher retention has been studied for decades, yet it has recently assumed renewed significance due to current teacher shortages. This study was designed to determine whether teachers' job embeddedness (JE) is related to turnover. JE is found in organizational literature (Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski, & Erez, 2001) and has been a robust…

Expanding on recent advances in science education, cognitive and social psychology, and sociocultural studies, the paper explores a construct called "science learning activation" and a theoretical framework that describes the characteristics, function, and impact of this construct. Authors define "science learning activation"…

In order to improve the accuracy of students' placement into California Community College English as Second Language (ESL) courses and move them more efficiently toward completion, the statewide Common Assessment Initiative (CAI) is developing placement processes for student assessment in credit ESL that contain a multiple measures component. As…

Differences in family background and culture contribute to belonging concerns for first-generation students during their transition to college (Stephens et al., 2012; Harackiewicz et al., 2016). We investigated whether variability in students' on-campus experience, in particular perceived faculty support, in the first semester of college predicts…

This study investigated the effects of internal and demographic variables on civic development in late adolescence using the construct "civic purpose." We conducted surveys on civic engagement with 480 high school seniors, and surveyed them again 2 years later. Using multivariate regression and linear mixed models, we tested the main…

Assessing a student's ability to be successful in courses and programs is an important and necessary aspect of student success. Two major practices exist to predict a student's likelihood of succeeding in a course or program: (1) Successful completion of prerequisite or advisory courses (as documented on transcripts) and (2) the assessment for…

Using data from a multi-year study of eleven low-performing high schools, Cooper and Davis examine the academic aspirations and motivations of urban African American high school students in California. Situating their discussion within the context of neoliberalism and its manifestation in urban school reform and community cohesion, the authors…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the extent to which a proposed home language survey in California could better identify possible English learner and multilingual students than the current home language survey. The responses to a proposed and current survey were examined for students registering for kindergarten through grade…

We have studied the correlation of student performance in a large first year university physics course with their reasons for taking the course and whether or not the student took a senior-level high school physics course. Performance was measured both by the Force Concept Inventory and by the grade on the final examination. Students who took the…

In assessing the teaching practice of preservice teacher candidates, observers, particularly trained observers, will readily identify those who are exceptionally effective or ineffective. The anticipation is that university supervisors and mentor teachers will agree on who demonstrates extraordinary performance for a preservice candidate and who…

Biotechnology constitutes one of the most challenging, cutting-edge, and rapidly growing fields in science today. Both the practical implications and the hands-on nature of this "modern science" make the topic of biotechnology an attractive addition to the high school science curriculum. The current study is the first of its kind to…